River Deep, Mountain High
by Darkened Nighteyes
Summary: Sirius did fall through the Archway. But is he really dead? Lucius is determined to find out after he finds an ancients text that tells otherwise. Hint of SB/LM Slash; AU; Set after Fifth Year.
1. Mountain High

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter & Co. This is merely a figment of my imagination and to much inspiration.

A/N: This is my very first fic, and though I'm not sure if I'm a great fan of this pairing, I do believe that this fits. Somehow. R&R please.

Mountain High.

Nepal, somewhere on Mt. Kangchenjunga, 20.000 feet above sea level.

20.000 feet above sea level, on top of a mountain so high, people rarely ventured upwards to climb it, an oasis of peace and serenity resided. Gardens carefully tended and raked into perfect circles, a small pavilion raised in the exact middle of five symmetrical sand paths.

Lush green trees and bushes surrounded the gardens, left to grow and go as they pleased.

The temple had been there for several centuries, it's walls and gardens protecting the inhabitants from the modernizing world outside and below.

The monks where Buddhists, their robes a simple colored ochre yellow against the rising sun. They where heading for the main temple for the first time of the day, chants already greeted the slightly chill morning air.

As the procession slowly crawled forward, all of the men kept their head bowed and eyes closed, knowing by heart which way to walk. Only a day ago, one of them had finally found Nirvana, his eyes clearly showing the wisdom and light that one of his status held for the rest of his hundred days of leading.

Their sanctuary was a private one, only allowing wizards, mages, whatever they where called in their respective countries. And so, their numbers had grown throughout the centuries, gathering more and more Buddhist wizards until there where over seventy inhabitants of the temple. Once every hundred years, one of them would reach Nirvana after a journey through the Gates of Buddha. Then, this monk would lead and guide them for the next century, protecting them from the outside world and keeping them safe. Only those who are truly seeking it, would find the temple.

But abiding by the rules that Buddha had laid down for them was not their only job. They had a secret to protect. A mystery that, to all other wizards had remained unsolved for almost two thousand years. The truth about the Gates of Buddha. This was their name for the grand archway that stood in the middle of their precious serenity gardens, but only the current Leader, who had gained the knowledge of the previous one, knew the true name of the portal, having made it through the darkness of it's core alive and enlightened.

The Gate of Judgment had been standing on this very place before the monastery had even been established, and had actually been the reason of the Order's founding. It was known now to the Leader, after many years of gathering information and searching, that the Gate of Life, the counterpart of their gate. Though no one knows what exactly the Gates where originally used for, or why they where even created and by who.

And then it happened. The event that would go down in their history books as the Day of Passing. In actuality, nothing much happened. If you had been there, it would not have been impressing, or spectacular at all. No, on the contrary. A man fell out.

That was it. The Gate didn't light up, or make a sound, or have any sign of magical interference whatsoever. It just stood there and out of nowhere a man fell. Had there been anyone other then the monks, they might have screamed, gasped, called out in surprise, but the monks just lift their heads at the soft thud of a body hitting the sand. A slight wind stirred as the slumped form let out a breath and the sand in front of him flurried up in a cloud. Four of them disengaged from the group, leaving them to go and collect the man who had just come to them, as the remaining monks continued on their way towards the temple.

A/N: Well, that's the Prologue. Next chapter will be due in two days or so.


	2. Down the Mountain

[EDITFor those who noticed, I changed the pairing thing. It's now a 'hints of Sirius/Lucius slash' fic. I love both of them, but I'm unsure of them together like THAT. Let me know what you think, please. Onwards.[/EDIT

Down the Mountain.

Lucius Malfoy took pride in the fact that he was what he was. Malfoy, rich, good looking and aware of all of these things. He took great care of his appearance, training his body regularly to be fit and strong, had the best clothes and his special, Home-Snape brewed shampoo. Even though his wife sometimes mocked him with his 'girly obsession' with his looks, he had no problem with it and felt perfectly fine. His and Narcissa's was a marriage of convenience anyhow.

He glanced at the grand mirror in the Entrance Hall of the manor and flashed himself a slightly boyish grin. For someone reaching his forties , he looked damn good if he said so him self. After a moment he scolded himself for letting his mask slip. He quickly set his face back into the glare he usually bore, expression one of extreme boredom and superiority. Today he'd be making a highly overdue visit to the Ministry of Magic. There had been some reports of a newly discovered text regarding the Veil that had swallowed that mutt, Black.

Off course, Lucius had insisted on being allowed entry to it's revealing and had gotten, as always, what he wanted.

Straightening his back and settling his robes one more time, he nodded to himself in approval. This would do nicely.

One floo later found the eldest Malfoy striding down the corridors of the ministry, robes billowing behind him and his face set into the well known Malfoy sneer. Ignoring all he met on his way, he wondered about the find. What would be discovered? Black, alive and well but locked away in the Veil? Black dead? Bella had after all hit him fully with the Killing curse. His nose wrinkled a bit as he frowned.

He was no traitor to his own kind, but he did hate his wife's cousin. The insane Lestrange had not only embarrassed him on several occasions, he also thought her well capable of turning on any of her comrades whenever she got tired of them. She wasn't quite right in the head, after all. He shrugged, opting to forget about her for now, as he had reached the Ministry's Secrecy Room.

The secrecy room was known to few, very, very old and well warded. Even he himself would have trouble getting in if he was not invited. He knocked, three times and an elderly witch came to the door and opened it to a small gap. She glanced up and down the hall before taking in Lucius, who raised one of his eyebrows in expectation. What was she waiting for, a written invitation? She narrowed her eyes - Lucius noted that she was squinting with one eye which made her look even odder - and opened the door fully to let him in. Right after, she looked up and down the hall again, twice, before closing and locking the door with several keys, spells and notice-me-not charms.

As she turned her back and walked of into another part of the room, Lucius repressed the urge to roll his eyes. You'd think they had Merlin himself at the table tonight. He glanced around the dark, barely lit room and sneered again.

The room was small, slightly damp and there was a moldy scent in the air. The walls where yellow and aged, pieces of wallpaper crumbling and curling down, absolutely no decorations where in site. No painting, no nothing. The only furniture was a rickety looking table with three wooden chairs next to it, one of which was occupied by Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic himself. Who was, by the was, looking a bit skittish. His face had the color of ashes and his eyes kept glancing to his companion. Lucius nodded to the first and turned his attention to the latter.

Hair as dark as the night, framing a face so withdrawn from the light that the only thing he could see where the yellow, narrowed eyes taking him in. He shivered as the eyes reminded him of snakes and other people with snake eyes, but quickly recovered as he noted, with a hint of amusement aimed at himself, that the eyes where more catlike.

Sitting down on the only remaining chair, he only needed seconds to regain his composure. The hardwood snake cane tapped the chair's leg once and it transfigured into a comfortable armchair in which he sat back, folding his hands.

"Gentlemen." He began, looking at both men sitting on the other side of the table. As he had their full attention, he continued. "I believe we all came here with a good reason."

The un-introduced cat man sat up a bit and nodded, eyes shifting a bit to take in more light as he glanced at the center of the table. There was a box there, one that contained all information that could be gained tonight.

Fudge fidgeted with the end of his sleeve a bit before wiping a hand across his brow. "Yes, well. A grave matter this is indeed. Whatever you both learn inhere tonight, can not leave this room." His face, already reddened from anxiety, grew even redder as he realized the consequences of his soon to become actions. He waved the witch from before over and she handed him a small key with which he slowly turned the lock of the box. Lucius glared at the woman to leave, but Fudge soothed him.

"Don't mind her. She's a mute with extremely hard to break wards on her mind. Besides, she never leaves the room anyway." He waved her away anyhow, as the box snapped open. A soft sound could be heard from inside and both Lucius as the cat man leaned forward to see what was inside.

"Is that a-" Fudge held up a hand to silence the still nameless person halfway his question but nodded. He opened the box fully and took out a small, seemingly meaningless piece of wood. "Ash tree. But not ordinary Ash tree. This came from the Veil, three days ago. It has been researched by me and-" Here he hesitated as he moved his hand towards their companion. "Vidar here, and we came to a single conclusion." He paused and looked at Lucius expectantly.

"Well?" Lucius snapped, a bit annoyed at the fact that the fool stopped talking, just when they were about to reach the end of it all. "What is it?"

The deep voice that came from his right startled him, but he showed no outwards signs. "Yggdrasill." Lucius turned to the other, Vidar, and blinked.

"Excuse me? Yggdrasill?" He had heard the name before, but where? Rethinking the week, he suddenly got it. The World Tree of Norse legend. He had heard Narsicca talk about it to one of her friends, as they were discussing the merits of other religions in education or something. Yggdrasill was supposed to be the tree that held up the world or something. And there was something to do with a six legged horse. Or eight. He shook his head, a smile on his face that clearly told every one around him that he was, in fact, very much not amused.

"Yggdrasill. The World Tree. That's all you have?" He started to rise from his seat, getting ready to leave as he suddenly felt a hand on his arm. His eyes snapped towards the offending limb and then focused on the face that went with it. "Unhand me," He hissed, anger slipping into his voice. "Or I will."

The hand left his arm just as fast as it had grabbed him, but Vidar got up from his seat as well. "That really is a branch of Yggdrasill, you know? It exists." His eyes flashed, and for a moment it was as if he dared Lucius to speak up and try to tell him otherwise. But the older man remained silent, although yet once more one of his eyebrows took up residency a bit higher on his forehead. "I have seen it. It is where I was born."

A/N: That's it, for now. I wanted to get into it a bit more, but I have stuff to do, library's to go to and baths to take, so. Adieu! Hope to read your review!

ps. Most of this complicated stuff will be explained later on. If I have any refferances to the Buddhistic or Norse culture and religion that is wrong, please let me know!

R&R!


End file.
